Ken Livingstone appeared on Sky News to talk about the parliamentary report into anti-Semitism - and spoke about Hitler

He said: “I think there are a lot of people out there who think I said Hitler was a Zionist.

“That’s not what I said at all. I simply stated historical fact – no different from saying Britain was invaded by the Normans in 1066.”

His comments came after a damning report by the Home Affairs Select Committee which said Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to deal with anti-Semitic incidents in his party “risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally anti-Semitic”.

ANTI-SEMITISM ROW

'DEAF TO JEWS'

And when asked about the hate-filled tweets some Jewish Labour MPs have received, including Ruth Smeeth who has received 25,000 abusive messages over the summer, he said: "Those aren't from 25,000 Labour Party members, I'm absolutely certain of that.

"In all my 47 years in the Labour Party, up until six months ago no Labour MP ever said there was a problem with anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

"We've just had five years of being led by a Jewish leader so the idea we've got all these anti-Semites is nonsense.

Sky News

Ken Livingstone says what he said about Hitler was 'historical fact' and refused to apologise

"There's a lot of anti-Semites out there and they hide themselves behind dodgy accounts on Twitter and Facebook and that does need to be cracked down on.

"That's the one bit of this report that I actually agree with. There should be no free platform for racism and anti-Semitism."

And he said during his eight years as the Mayor of London he created a tolerant city.